Delicate
I keep coming back to the word "delicate" for some reason.
The Earth in all it's evolving robust complexity really isn't delicate at all--as Oren Lyons eloquently and powerfully points out in the film 11th Hour:
“If we choose to eradicate ourselves from this earth, by whatever means, the earth goes nowhere. And in time, it will regenerate, and all the lakes will be pristine. The rivers, the waters, the mountains, everything will be green again. It will be peaceful. There may not be people, but the earth will regenerate. And you know why? Because the earth has all the time in the world. And we don't. So I think that’s where we’re at right now.”
But this IS a delicate moment, and a moment of opportunity. We need to handle these chances with care, when crises and leadership and knowledge and public interest converge. Whether they are conversations, press releases, research projects, small grants, big films. Even what we eat for lunch and what we eat it from and how we get to and from lunch presents opportunities.
More and more people are paying attention to life and nature, the problems we face and the solutions that are available to us now.
While the mainstream media handles environmental issues so ham-handedly, we need to continue to handle these issues carefully, thoughtfully...because it's a delicate situation, our life on this planet. This delicate moment in our life on Earth.
August 23, 2007